The Serpent's Shadow

'Huh. So that would be where your information came from. No reason for the girl to lie, I suppose. No, of course not, she's a doctor, she'd have more reason to cover it up to preserve her reputation. What happened, exactly?' Alderscroft's glacial gaze pried every last detail out of Peter, including the little plot that he and Almsley had made up to free Maya from the unwanted attentions.

'Ha!' the old man barked, amused, when Peter was finished. 'Clever enough, all of you! Good trick of hers, callin' what she did to the fellow 'heatstroke.' Ha!' He pondered the tale, stabbing bites of his luncheon and chewing them with deliberation while he did so.

At least I've managed to restore his appetite.

'Well played,' he said at last. 'Nothing to connect us, or magic in general, with what went on. Managing to hush the fellow up. Perfectly allowable use of magic in self-defense, especially considering the situation. Though— someone should have noticed when she struck him.'

'It was a very transitory phenomenon, my lord,' Peter said cautiously. 'It didn't take place at night, nor in one of the venues we've been watching. Under such circumstances, I can see how it would not be caught by a watcher.'

'True, true. But still.' Alderscroft frowned. 'Someone should have noticed, use of power like that, and unshielded. I'll have a word with Owlswick. He's supposed to be watching by daylight, whether or not anyone else is, and he's supposed to report things like that to me.'

Aha—so that's why Lord Owlswick never leaves the dub! 'She is a doctor, my lord. It might not have been as great a use of power as you are assuming. A doctor would know better than anyone else how and

where to strike to incapacitate someone.' Peter had more in mind than merely helping Lord Owlswick out of a reprimand by pointing that out. He hoped that— after later consideration at least—giving evidence of Maya's multiple talents might yet pave the way for her entry into the Club and Lodge, if only Lord Alderscroft could be made to see past his Old School Tie prejudices.

'Hmm. A point. Well, there's the link from the missing man to the killer—the cad laid hands on a Hindu wench, and with intentions, to boot.' Alderscroft nodded. 'Don't matter if she never told anyone but you and her servants, or even if she didn't tell the servants. Servants overhear everything, and they gossip. Wouldn't be long before it was all over, at least with the Hindu population.' He brooded over his potatoes. 'Wish we had some sort of hook into the ranks of Hindu servants in London. If anyone knows anything that might lead us to the killer, it'll be with them.'

'You surely don't suspect them of helping the killer?' Peter exclaimed, appalled. He hadn't thought Alderscroft to be that insular!

But Alderscroft shook his head. 'No, no, not a bit of it. For one thing, there wasn't a victim that still had Indian servants. No, I'm just thinking that there may be rumors in the bazaar, so to speak, rumors that would be damned useful to us, and of no use to the police, and I wish we were in a position to hear 'em.'

Peter thought of Gupta and Gopal, and wondered just how open they would be with him. Well, what could it hurt to ask? And that might be yet one more reason for Club and Lodge to feel obligated to Maya. The more obligations that piled up, the less resistance there would be to bringing her into the fold.

After all, that was one reason why they brought me in.

'Doctor Witherspoon's servants might be willing to talk to me,' he said cautiously. 'Especially if she asked them to. She treats them less as servants and more as family, from what I've seen.'

Alderscroft cleared his throat, and looked a little embarrassed. 'It's not my place to criticize how a woman runs her own household,' he said, 'But in most cases, that's a mistake—'

'But not in all—and anyway, this just means they're more likely to talk to me to oblige her,' Peter said firmly. 'I take it you'd like me to have a word, then?'

Alderscroft nodded. 'I'd be obliged to the doctor,' he responded, much to Peter's pleasure. 'Especially if they can tell us anything interesting.'

'Then I'll see to it immediately,' Peter promised. 'I'll be happy to.'

And if ever there was an understatement, that was surely a mammoth.